posted at 11:21 am on September 25, 2013 by Allahpundit

Cruz’s floor speech technically isn’t a filibuster because he can’t delay today’s vote on the House CR, but so what? Davis wasn’t going to stop the Texas legislature from passing new restrictions on late-term abortion either. Part of the romance of the long floor speech is that it is ultimately futile; you speak for your cause even though it’s lost because you believe in it that deeply. But of course, of course, the coverage is different this morning than it was for Davis: See Tim Carney, John Sexton, or especially the Right Scoop for more. If you want to dismiss Cruz for pulling a stunt that’s apt to do more to promote him for higher officer than stop the other party, that’s fine, but it’s awfully precious coming after the Wendy Davis “Vogue” feature and Team Wendy’s impending rollout of her candidacy for governor.

Sometimes the stench is so strong that even the press has no choice but to acknowledge its ideological farts. Politico cuts on the bias:

When a Democrat like Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis filibusters against abortion restrictions, she is elevated to hero status, her tennis shoes become totems. When Sen. Cruz grandstands against Obamacare, he is a laughingstock in the eyes of many journalists on Twitter, an “embarrassment” in the eyes of The New York Times editorial board…

Yes, the difference between filibustering and grandstanding plays a part. Equally important is the fact that Cruz’s theatrics are frustrating members of his own party. But, part of the disparity in coverage is due to the fact that the mainstream media, generally speaking, don’t admire Cruz the way they admired Davis — or rather, they admire him only insofar as he makes for tragicomic theater, whereas they admired her on the merits…

These portrayals may be accurate or inaccuarate — Cruz certainly has an elitist strain and he certainly has political ambitions. But that’s not the point: the point is that the coverage of Cruz has been critical, and in some cases unforgiving, from the outset. At least initially, Davis wasn’t viewed through a critical lens at all. Her willingness to stand for eleven hours was evidence of the American dream in action. Period.

ABC may end up interviewing Cruz but rest assured that they won’t play pattycake with him with their questions when they do. Compare that last link, in fact, to this sneering WaPo piece of the view from the Senate gallery of Cruz’s filibuster as it got going. (Some media outlets chose instead to ignore Cruz’s filibuster entirely on the front page. One of them, per HA contributor Karl, was WaPo, which has otherwise covered the prospect of a Cruz filibuster at length.) Here’s the only wrinkle: Did Davis get the media version of a ticker-tape parade because she championed *a* left-wing issue or *the* left-wing issue? Bernie Sanders staged a futile filibuster of his own a few years ago that made liberals euphoric for a few hours, but that faded away so quickly that I’d forgotten about it until someone on Twitter mentioned it this morning. If she had filibustered for 12 hours in support of, say, higher spending for some pet liberal project, would “Wendy for Governor” be a thing among Democrats in Texas? It would have gotten some coverage, I think, despite her having a comparatively lower profile as a state senator, because the media wouldn’t be able to resist the sisters-are-doing-it-for-themselves novelty of a woman politician staging a talking filibuster for hours when the men in her party wouldn’t. But that too, I think, would have been a blip. Those pink sneakers don’t achieve totemic status without her choosing an issue that’s absolutely core to her party’s national identity. She and Cruz have that in common, in fact. He’s making his bones by drawing a line at stopping ObamaCare. She made hers drawing a line at stopping laws that would reduce late-term abortions. Naturally, she’s a hero.

All that said, I think there’s a grain of truth in Benjy Sarlin’s point about why conservatives are bristling at the double standard this morning. It’s not just the media hypocrisy, which is predictable, that grates. It’s that, after days of internecine sniping at each other over Cruz’s strategy, both RINOs and true conservatives can at last unite in common grievance at the unfairness. Three cheers for the media!

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Well, y’know, killing babies is much more riveting than killing grandma.

Jeddite on September 25, 2013 at 11:23 AM

No, that’s the whole thing, they are the party of death, they want to be able to kill babies and grandma and Davis was advocating killing babies while Cruz is trying to block their ability to kill grandma.

What do you expect, most of the media hyenas can’t keep up with Cruz’s intelligent take-down of DeathCare anyway, their eyes glazed over once he started talking particulars that used words with more than 4 letters.

Dog Eater standing next to foam columns wearing a shiite-eating grin they can understand, intellectual points of order make their pants overload.

No, that’s the whole thing, they are the party of death, they want to be able to kill babies and grandma and Davis was advocating killing babies while Cruz is trying to block their ability to kill grandma.

MobileVideoEngineer on September 25, 2013 at 11:28 AM

Yup, abortion and euthanasia are the cornerstones of the religion of the Left.

The media is corrupt…we should avoid as much as possible any ways in which we, as individuals, enrich them with our money. I’m not saying boycot everything, but simply take a stance that if you can avoid( key words there) whatever that circumstance is that may enrich one of the well documented corrupted media outlets, do it.

It’s one of the few powers we, as a group of like minded individuals, still wield at this point in history. And yes, this government/socialism will eventually even eliminate that small power whenever they have their chance..

It should catch no one by surprise that the morally, ethically, and intellectually bankrupt members of the progressive propaganda arm, aka ‘Ministry of Truth’, aka the lamestream media, would react entirely differently over the long speech by Sen Cruz to highlight the EpicClusterFarkNado of Obamacare than that of Texas State Sen. Wendy Davis opposing limits to infanticide.

One person is attempting to push and expand the progressive fascist agenda.

The other is attempting to mobilize the American people to oppose the progressive fascist agenda.

One of the biggest examples of the collapse of core American values comes from the bias, lies, and shameless shilling out of the bulk of the American media. They aren’t journalists any longer – they are little more than activist hacks.

Did Davis get the media version of a ticker-tape parade because she championed *a* left-wing issue or *the* left-wing issue?

Neither, in my opinion. The media made a big deal out of the Wendy Davis filibuster because the propagandists were given orders to further her political career. When the media started talking about her shoes it was obvious to me that she already had plans to run for a high political office.

Could be because Cruz is a blowhard who’s been getting gangs of press already and his stunt isn’t even a real filibuster. Also, he looks like a copycat — like Rand Paul or not, his filibuster was unexpected and had a real, significant effect on the debate. Cruz’s fake filibuster will accomplish nothing (except printing Cruz) and be forgotten in a week.

Wendy Davis was new news and had a much better storyline: determined underdog takes on clearly hostile establishment and actually succeeds, momentarily. Plus the Republicans did her a favor and ended the filibuster for bogus reasons and then lied about the timing of the vote. You couldn’t have asked for better bad guys. Cruz is so boring that Reid gave him all the time he needs– he doesn’t scare or anger anyone (though he seems to annoy a lot of other Republicans).

Ted Cruz’s fake filibuster is not really news. He’s not saying anything new, he’s not doing anything original, and he ‘s been all over the press for the last 10 days. No one really cares about this. It’s a campaign video.

Could be because Cruz is a blowhard who’s been getting gangs of press already and his stunt isn’t even a real filibuster. Also, he looks like a copycat — like Rand Paul or not, his filibuster was unexpected and had a real, significant effect on the debate. Cruz’s fake filibuster will accomplish nothing (except printing Cruz) and be forgotten in a week.

Wendy Davis was new news and had a much better storyline: determined underdog takes on clearly hostile establishment and actually succeeds, momentarily. Plus the Republicans did her a favor and ended the filibuster for bogus reasons and then lied about the timing of the vote. You couldn’t have asked for better bad guys. Cruz is so boring that Reid gave him all the time he needs– he doesn’t scare or anger anyone (though he seems to annoy a lot of other Republicans).

Yeah, we know the drill. Anything helpful to progressives is picked up by the media. Anything harmful is a Local Story not worth covering. Any missteps of Democrats that actually reported fit the Something Is Wrong With America Narrative. Any missteps by Republicans fit the Something Is Seriously Wrong With Conservatives Narrative.

Ted Cruz’s fake filibuster is not really news. He’s not saying anything new, he’s not doing anything original, and he ‘s been all over the press for the last 10 days. No one really cares about this. It’s a campaign video.

You do understand the concept of “news,” right?

urban elitist on September 25, 2013 at 12:22 PM

And Wendy Davis was so original. She brought up never before heard arguments. She did something that’s never been done before.

And while Wendy Davis was being praised as Progressive Hero Of The Hour the media was doing it’s best to completely ignore the Gosnell trial because it was a Local Story not worth covering.

Ted Cruz’s fake filibuster is not really news. He’s not saying anything new, he’s not doing anything original, and he ‘s been all over the press for the last 10 days. No one really cares about this. It’s a campaign video.

You do understand the concept of “news,” right?

urban elitist on September 25, 2013 at 12:22 PM

Yeah, someone speaking on the senate floor for 20 hours against a bill that the majority of Americans are against. Nothing newsworthy about that.

But, some attention wh0re in pink sneakers squealing about the rights of women to kill babies in an effort to stop a bill that there was no chance of stopping = Greatest Example of Speaking Truth to Power and This is What Democracy Looks Like in modern political history. Amiright?

Rand Paul — very conservative, I hear — was all over the place. A career day. Because he made news. Cruz did not.

The reason the political analysis on this site is do bad is that most of you refuse to admit to anything tha doesn’t fit into your simplistic, pre-constructed narratives. That’s why you were do surprised ( or cried “fraud”) when Romney got whipped.

I get that you like Cruz. I get that you support his position. I get that you want him to get press. What I don’t get is your unwillingness to accept simple, obvious facts. This is a useless publicity stunt and got the coverage it deserved.

Interesting aside: Cruz on the front page of the “liberal” Washingon Post. Cruz not on the front page of the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal. Murdoch apparently agrees with me.

I swear if Cornyn votes for cloture, I’m gonna send him an e-mail and call his @ss so many times calling him a traitorous bastage that he’ll remove me from his e-mail list instead of me asking to be removed.

The media and the democrats (oh, but I repeat myself) hate the GOP so much I wonder if we’ll ever have another Republican president. Congress (R&D’s alike) has so much contempt for the constitution they stomped all over it and exempted themselves from the new laws, the very laws that they KNOW the American people they represent OPPOSE by majority. Our government has lost its direction, its scruples, its credibility, its ability to lead, or the ability to listen to the people and have made this the most divisive and partisan nation ever. They don’t DESERVE to be in business anymore… may as well shut their doors and go home, bunch of losers.

Oh urbie never mind. No need now. Fascist and elitist just go together (in all kinds of weather). That’s all you really need to understand at this point.
It will help you face the fact you sold your soul for the hateful racist baby killing pedophile party (admit it-you looove to hate dontcha) and all you got is a stupid bumper sticker will a big circle on it.
We all make mistakes. You just have to start accepting and move on. I liked government cheese. See? Not so hard.

Rand Paul — very conservative, I hear — was all over the place. A career day. Because he made news. Cruz did not.

The reason the political analysis on this site is do bad is that most of you refuse to admit to anything tha doesn’t fit into your simplistic, pre-constructed narratives. That’s why you were do surprised ( or cried “fraud”) when Romney got whipped.

I get that you like Cruz. I get that you support his position. I get that you want him to get press. What I don’t get is your unwillingness to accept simple, obvious facts. This is a useless publicity stunt and got the coverage it deserved.

Interesting aside: Cruz on the front page of the “liberal” Washingon Post. Cruz not on the front page of the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal. Murdoch apparently agrees with me.

urban elitist on September 25, 2013 at 12:35 PM

Yeah. It’s the conservatives that are stuck in a narrow narrative. Keep going with that.

Here’s the thing. You want to say that the Cruz “filibuster” doesn’t rise to the level of news? Ok, you can make an argument for that. But then you cannot also say that Wendy Davis is news. That’s what we call a severe bias and a big double standard. Want to say the Gosnell is not news because it’s a Local Story (that just so happens to hurt Democrats in the abortion debate)? Fine, but so are many many things that the national media reports on that obviously fit the same Local Story bill but are helpful to progressives so they get national media attention.

Ooh. Garand fan also.
And it goes with. Territorial. I mean if they really understood what hypocrisy was would they be such media whores?
B’s still cramping and crapping since Putin stuck a few boats in front of his big day. And its the stress kind, you know watery.
Heeerre cooomes the press! Licking and lapp’n, on all fours and call’n it gravy. Occasionally looking up, wiping their mouth on their sleeve, and saying poignant things like, “Who does that Ted Cruz think he is anywho?”
Uhm Chris Matthews. You got a little shmotz on your… never mind.

During the DNC convention before the elections last year Democrats focused almost exclusively on “abortion rights” during the first day. An über liberal man I was working with came into the room and giddily told a liberal woman there “They finally got their message straight!!!”.

So yes, Davis was elevated to ‘hero’ because she was talking about the cause celeb of the left, because she was a woman (and, ya know- “war on women” and shtuff), and because it was happening in Texas, the left’s representation of an “evil” conservative state.

Yup, abortion and euthanasia are the cornerstones of the religion of the Left.

The god of the State must have its sacrifices.

OhEssYouCowboys on September 25, 2013 at 11:33 AM

Not that it’s any major change, but what you say is obviously wrong. No matter what opinions you may have about morality, people advocate abortion and euthanasia as individual choices. They want to keep keep the state out of this arena.

I expect no less from the press but fellow Republicans should play by the golden rule when it comes to their own. They have been much harsher on any of the conservative candidates than they are Democrats.

Wendy Davis was new news and had a much better storyline: determined underdog takes on clearly hostile establishment and actually succeeds, momentarily. Plus the Republicans did her a favor and ended the filibuster for bogus reasons and then lied about the timing of the vote. You couldn’t have asked for better bad guys. Cruz is so boring that Reid gave him all the time he needs– he doesn’t scare or anger anyone (though he seems to annoy a lot of other Republicans).

All that said, I think there’s a grain of truth in Benjy Sarlin’s point about why conservatives are bristling at the double standard this morning. It’s not just the media hypocrisy, which is predictable, that grates. It’s that, after days of internecine sniping at each other over Cruz’s strategy, both RINOs and true conservatives can at last unite in common grievance at the unfairness. Three cheers for the media!

You give them way too much credit, AllahPundit. It’s not a grain of truth, it is the entire beach.